"He wants to see us move from a process now existing in law, of extended family chain migration, towards merit-based legal immigration reform", Shah said. Porter has denied the allegations.

Asked why he did not fight to keep his job, Sorensen said in a Facebook message: "I didn't want the White House to have to deal with this distraction". As of Thursday, Shah insisted President Trump continues to have full confidence in Kelly. Kelly, along with Porter, helped organize the West Wing's policy and decision-making process and infused the staff with a clearer sense of goal, officials said.

"Forty minutes later he was gone", Kelly said.

"He says he's innocent, and I think you have to remember that", Trump said Friday.

The Porter matter has intensified scrutiny of White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, a former army general brought in to bring order to an administration that had been seen as chaotic under previous chief, Reince Priebus. "His pathetic defence of staff secretary Rob Porter reveals his true nature - an enabler of sexual abusers, a betrayer of trust and an avoider of responsibility".

Later the same day Kelly suggested some of them "just should have probably gotten off the couch and signed up". "And literally that was it".

The narrative Gen. Kelly pushed Friday runs counter to reports that he kept Porter on staff despite knowledge of the allegations, which prevented him from gaining permanent security clearance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation back in November.

A GQ magazine profile in June 2016 described her: "She is a hugger and a people pleaser, with long brown hair and green eyes, a young woman of distinctly all-American flavor - the sort that inspires Tom Petty songs, not riots".

Those would-be candidates include House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows. Some aides in that meeting privately questioned Kelly's account, thinking his version of events was self-serving, according to one official with knowledge of the meeting but not authorized to discuss it publicly. Trump is known to frequently poll his advisers about the performance of senior staff and is often reluctant to actually fire aides.

'A good person' He supported former Fox News executive Roger Ailes, who since has died, as he faced harassment allegations.